AEI/--------- Fireworks II [RE-wrenches]

Marko Rosenfeldt rosenfeldt at beaconpower.com
Wed Sep 8 15:10:04 PDT 2004


 

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Dear Wrenches and Gary,

As the Beacon contact for this list as well as a former AEI service employee I would like to clarify the history of the MM5000 and M5.  The failure of the AEI equipment points directly to some of the issues the company faced, which finally drove it into Chapter 7 bankruptcy in October of 2002.  Although the product concept was innovative for the time, the quality issues and design shortcomings of the product didn't allow it to run successfully for the projected lifetime.

With the AEI bankruptcy proceedings followed an associated auction. At this auction Beacon Power put in the highest bid to purchase the intellectual property (IP) of the products that AEI had developed.  What was not purchased was the business, assets or liabilities.

Since Beacon saw a viable product in the MM5000 topology the company decided to put significant resources into reengineering and recertifying (UL) the new product.  More than 40 physical, thermal, and performance improvements were made, including and specifically those that were associated with known AEI MM5000 failures.  

The new product is now called the Smart Power M5 and has performed without failure in the field since October of last year.  The new system continues to receive high praise for its ease of commissioning, all-in-one enclosure design as well as its appliance-like looks that high-end homeowners appreciate.

Beacon understands the trouble and expense that the AEI bankruptcy has caused, but we have neither the obligation nor the resources to take responsibility for another company's history.  For this reason we chose not to implement a full replacement service plan for existing AEI MM5000's.  Beacon did offer a rebate program earlier this year that was intended to help the replacement of failed AEI product.  Many installers took advantage of this program, which ended on June 30th.

Just for clarification, the failed system mentioned in this thread is not a Beacon M5. It is as pointed out a late model AEI MM5000.

I find the web page for the installation including all the data presented of high value.  Visibility for solar electric systems is important to the industry, though it is unfortunate that some system components have not performed as the industry would expect.

Please contact me off list for a detailed discussion about this particular situation.

Regards,
Marko Rosenfeldt
Service Manager
Beacon Power Corporation
rosenfeldt at beaconpower.com
tel: 978-661-2024

www.beaconpower.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Higbee [mailto:gary at windstreamsolar.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2004 8:08 PM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: AEI/Beacon M5 Fireworks II [RE-wrenches]

Wrenches,

Today a "new, improved" Multimode 5000 (remember AEI?) replacement inverter 
failed spectularlarly at a "high-end" installation. Just before the demise 
of AEI the earlier inverter failed in a similar fashion--lots of smoke, fire 
alarms, fire department on-site, the call we never want to get, etc.

While AEI was falling I was shipped (freight collect) a replacement, being 
assured that power board problems had been addressed. The new inverter 
lasted almost two years, rather than the approximately 7 months the first 
version lasted. The ultimate failure, however, was almost as dramatic. Did 
we just get two lemons, or was the AEI inverter a problem beast? Did AEI 
fold because there were other such failures?

After the first inverter fried I was assured that the problem with the power 
board had been addressed, and that the "new" inverter was redesigned. 
Apparently a fundamental flaw persisted.

Do any of you have stories about the AEI version, and more importantly do 
any of you have firsthand knowledge of substantial improvements when Beacon 
took things over?

At this point I hope that Beacon will take some responsibility for the 
nightmare the AEI version has caused. And unless there is a very honest 
dialogue with Beacon I would not touch any AEI-derived product, from any 
manufacturer, for a very long time.

For me this is far beyond a specific manufacturer, as I feel that for my 
client solar technology is somewhat on the line. Failures like this are 
extremely rare, as we know, and I want to do everything possible to make 
sure we've got a solution in place that is robust and durable.

We've all had equipment fail, though I will say that for me it has been very 
limited. One bad SW a few days out of the box, and Trace was very good about 
shipping a replacement. One bad MX60, and again expedient resolution. Many 
bad KC120 modules of late (which I didn't install, fortunately). Speaking of 
which I understand that Kyocera had a major manufacturing defect around 
1999, so if any of you have KC120's out there from around that timeframe I'd 
suggest going back for some testing (open-circuit voltage and short-circuit 
current--and while it's hot, as this is a thermal cycling problem and I'm 
seeing an intermittent failure mode). In this case Kyocera says they will 
cover shipping both ways and replacement labor. This is very honorable, in 
my opinion, and if things work out they earn very high marks by me (I'll 
report on this after it's done).

Right now, though, do you have anything to offer regarding the AEI version 
of this Multimode 5000 inverter, or substantiated reasons for why anyone 
should ever consider using the Beacon derivative? My hope is that there has 
been a major change in the inverter architecture, and that Beacon will honor 
the AEI warranty--i.e., at the least replace the inverter (and hopefully 
labor). If Beacon won't then we're looking at a substantial financial loss, 
and we'll see where things go. If this is the case I'd lean towards Outback, 
though my client and I would likely be very unhappy that Beacon didn't make 
things work.

If anyone wants to visit the website for this system please see 
www.oceansolar.com. There will soon be updates to the site reporting this 
second major inverter failure. Please note that the near-realtime power 
graphs will not be accurate, given this inverter failure.


Thanks,

Gary

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                     ~ Windstream Solar ~
     Gary Higbee  (gary at windstreamsolar.com)
                     (541 ) 607-1818 (Eugene)
                        (541) 954-3881 (Cell)
Solar, wind, and hydro site analysis and system design
    Components dealer and installation assistance
 Energy Trust of Oregon contracted system inspector
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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